A Tenement on Jones Street by David Painter

A string of clear rope lights hang overhead.
“Those are stars,” she said.
“We can’t see the real ones from here
so these will have to do.”
But the wine is real,
as the cap is unscrewed.

She told me that she loved me
with all her heart,
but not her eyes.
I told her the same lies,
but with me it was just
a matter of
thighs.

So here we sit under our
make believe stars
with no moon
and the flowered wallpaper hangs lifeless
between the curtains.
We drink our wine and
make believe it is
tomorrow.

 

 

 David Painter is a Northeast Ohio poet and photographer. His aim is to capture his point of view on the world through nature, culture, architecture and history.

Dave’s love for photography began in the 1970s with the purchase of his firstMinolta SLR camera.Through his keen eye, Dave became a member of the Cleveland Photographic Society and the Chagrin Valley Photography Guild.For the last decade, Dave has added poetry to his creative repertoire. Expanding his interests to the human condition, fiction and history; his favorite era being the Civil War. Much of Dave’s poetry is inspired by his photography; the perfect marriage of his two passions.

Dave is a member of many poetry groups including Allegory Alley, Scribbles Writing Organization, Poems and Unpoems, Writers Writing Poems and Out of Your Write Mind. Additionally, he is active in The Pixel Photography Club and the local historical society.

Dave was born and raised in Charleston, W.V. but has made the Greater Cleveland area his home for the past fifty years. He is married with two kids.

@davepainterphotography